Maria graduated from University College Dublin with a BA in English and Drama, then obtained her Masters in Modern Literature from the University of Edinburgh. She moved from Dublin to New York in the hopes of pursuing a career in publishing. Before joining InkWell, she worked as a Foreign Rights Assistant at Janklow & Nesbit and interned at Akashic Books. Maria enjoys a blend of literary and commercial fiction, as well as speculative fiction and magical realism. She is particularly fond of novels that straddle the cultural divide. She is looking for books in the fiction and nonfiction space that speak to the current cultural moment or examine overlooked facets of society. A few of my clients include Erin Mayer, Audrey Burges, Vinod Busjeet, Liz Topp, Joselyn Takacs, Luke Dumas, Dima Alzayat, Sarah Fay, Eduardo Garcia, and Tea Hacic-Vlahovic.
Fun facts about me
Submission Guidelines Submissions should be emailed to submissions@
Queries should be emailed to
su ********* @ *************** In the body of your email, please include a query letter and a short writing sample (1-2 chapters). Emails with large attachments will be discarded. We currently accept submissions in all genres except screenplays. Due to the volume of queries we receive, we may not be able to respond to your query. If we are interested in reading more, we will respond within two months. By submitting to InkWell Management, you agree to these terms. No phone calls, please. Guidelines & Details Vital Info @mariarwhelan Linkedin Website Agent
Fiction
Family Saga, Horror, Humor, LGBTQ, Literary, Mystery, Short Story, Thriller, Women’s Fiction
Non-Fiction
Humor, Journalism, LGBTQ, Memoir, Psychology
Favorite sub-genres
Adult Horror, Book Club, Climate Fiction, Complicated Relationships, Contemporary Culture, Dark Female Friendships, Dark Humor, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Fairytale Retellings, Female Friendships, Feminist Horror, Folklore, Found Families, Gothic, Gothic Horror, LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Literary Horror, Magical Realism, Marginalized Voices, Mythology, Narrative, Nature Writing, Own Voices, Paranormal, Paranormal Horror, Speculative Fiction, eco-fiction, ghost story, horror, nonfiction I’d like the next… I REALLY REALLY want a non-fiction book on funerary traditions or odd a book that examines peculiar customs revolving around death. Always looking for novels that are slightly darker and have an edge to them, but not super downers. I would like to represent novels that have an element of genre, such as grounded speculative fiction or horror, but are accessible to a general reader. Would like to find a project about farmers, cowboys, and cryptids. I would also like to see more books about Ireland, set in Ireland, and by Irish writers. Unfortunately, I do not consider YA or Middle Grade. I would like to see more speculative fiction in my inbox, please! My favorites include… As far as tone and content are concerned, I think Alissa Nuttings TAMPA is phenomenal. The wicked humor, laced throughout the novel, and the daring and fresh subject matter is precisely what I am looking for, I love the fresh, truncated, and daring prose found in A GIRL IS A HALF FORMED THING by Eimear McBride. I adore the dream-like qualities and deceiving simplicity employed by Hna Kang in THE VEGETARIAN. I am drawn to the strong sense of place and questions of friendship in THE BOOK OF GOOSE by Yiyun Li. The otherness and peculiarity in EILEEN by Ottessa Moshfegh stood out for me, as well as THE PISCES by Melissa Broder. I admired Katherine Heiny’s humor and pithy dialogue. The devastating subject matter and crisp language found in SMALL THINGS LIKES THESE by Claire Keegan make that book unforgettable. BIG SWISS by Jen Beagin is also a favorite, with her cutting sense of humor and raucous wit. MY ABSOLUTE DARING is another favorite of mine for Gabriel Tallent’s ability to capture a complicated father-daughter relationship, coupled with a